Shortly after Christmas, the front page of the Pocono Record newspaper had an article about the haunted house in Wilkes-Barre. The Bishop of Scranton said that the strange occurrences in the house were the result of mine subsidence under the structure and that engineers were investigating the entire area due to danger of possible collapse. The mysterious messages, which appeared on mirrors and windows, were the doing of the next-door neighbor, a man given to practical jokes, who wanted to buy the house at an inexpensive price and thus double his living quarters. The neighbor entered and exited the house through a panel in the back bedroom closet. Though the Bishop knew about it, the article made no mention of the visit Christi paid to the group.
The next month, on January twenty-fourth, the Solemnity of Saint Francis de Sales, Brother Matthew made his Simple Profession. While the Church requires temporary vows at first, to be renewed annually for three to nine years, in his heart Brother Matthew committed himself to Christ and the monastic life forever. This is the inner or spiritual requirement for admission to simple profession. Thus, both human frailty and spiritual strength are taken into account when a novice is preparing for his or her first vows.
The little oratory had about twenty-five guests squeezed into its warm embrace. The small square altar table was covered in a bright white altar cloth, a basket of white daisies sat on the floor in front of the altar. Smaller matching baskets of wildflowers rested on the floor beneath the pedestals on which rested the open book of the Scriptures on one side of the oratory, and the tabernacle containing the Eucharist on the other side. Two small votive candles in clear glass holders flickered on the altar of sacrifice, matching the fire and light in the one to be professed.
In the heart of the Liturgy, after the opening hymn, scripture readings, and a stirring homily preached by a married deacon and neighbor to the monastery about the similarity of the deep commitment necessary in marriage, family, and in monastic life, Abbot Francis celebrated the actual ceremony of monastic profession.
* * * * *
Abbot Francis: “My dear Brother Matthew, by water and the Holy Sprit you have already been consecrated to God’s service. Are you resolved publicly to unite yourself more closely to God by the new bond of monastic profession?”
Brother Matthew: “I am so resolved.”
Abbot Francis: “In your desire to follow Christ perfectly, are you resolved to live in Conversion of Life, Stability, and Obedience, which includes celibate love and a poverty of spirit manifested by simplicity of life?”
Brother Matthew: “I am, with the help of God’s grace.”
Abbot Francis: “May our all-loving God grant you the grace to fulfill what you resolve to do.”
All responded: “Amen, so be it!”
Abbot Francis: “Let us Pray: Lord, look upon this servant of yours who is resolved to dedicate his life to you by making profession of the evangelical counsels in the monastic tradition and in the presence of your Church gathered here today. Mercifully grant that his manner of life may bring glory to your name and further our loving plan in our world. We ask this in Jesus’ name.”
All responded: “Amen.”
With a few of his bruises still moving through a spectrum of colors on the way to healing, the young monk stood up in the center of the oratory. He lifted the profession book, in which he had earlier written out his vows, from the altar on which it rested. Surrounded by family and friends, the novice monk pronounced the vow formula by memory with his whole heart.
“Jesus, my Savior and my God, I, Brother Matthew Orloski, vow for one year,” for the rest of my life “with all my heart, Conversion of Life, Obedience, and Stability, according to the Rule of the Salesian Monastic Community, in the service of your Church.
“I offer and consecrate to you, in honor of the Virgin Mary your Mother, my body, my soul, and my life, and do this in your presence Brother Francis de Sales O’Neill, abbot of the Salesian Monastery, Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania.
“Receive me, eternal Creator, in your mercy, so that through the merits of your beloved Son, my Redeemer, I may carry continuously the yoke and burden of your service and surrender myself forever, and completely, to your infinite love.
“I choose Jesus, my Lord and my God, as my only love, asking Mary, his holy Mother, to take me under her maternal protection.
“I choose the Salesian Monastic Community, our holy father Saint Francis de Sales, our holy mother Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, and all our other patrons, protectors, and founders, as my guides along the path to holiness.
“Glory to you, Source of all Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.”
* * * * *
The newly professed monk returned the profession book to its place on the altar, symbolic of Matthew's own self-oblation, and signed and dated the vow formula. The vows were then counter-signed by the abbot and two witnesses, namely Hester Von Kiel and Helena Simko.
Brother Matthew then raised his dark blue cowl up over his head and prostrated himself face down on the oratory floor. The monastic community, relatives, and guests sang the Litany of the Saints over him, invoking all of the Saints in heaven to intercede to God for support and joy during his life ahead in a world not very supportive of any type of life-long commitment, be it marriage, single life, monastic / religious life, or the clergy.
Mrs. Simko, as a gesture of healing and reconciliation after her daughter’s case was concluded, had asked David Gold to accept Christi’s diamond engagement ring which her deceased daughter had received from Matthew before he entered monastic life. Mrs. Simko’s plot came to fruition when David explained where it came from, and then slipped it on Chantal’s finger after the profession ceremony as he asked her to marry him. Mrs. Simko, a wise wife and mother, encouraged love wherever she saw it and perhaps saw something of Christi and Matthew in David and Chantal.
Death and resurrection, suffering and healing, yin and yang--all of this is the stuff of life in every culture.
Mutt and Jeff were read the riot act by the police, after having performed like one themselves. No formal charges were pressed against the rioters, which filled them with gratitude and relief. Perhaps they had both taken another step along the long road to maturity.
Abbot Francis spent the next few days playing “catch up” with his e-mail, “snail mail,” and phone messages. He accomplished a few things on his “to do” list, including visiting someone in a locked ward of the state hospital where the patient / prisoner had been court mandated for treatment. Having kept vigil in all these ways by staying open to the unfolding mystery of life, the abbot needed another retreat!
Shabbat shalom